Skip this paragraph if you’ve read it before – each morning, I wake up; I neti pot; put in my contacts; eat breakfast. As I listen to the day around me waking up, I go over my day ahead, making a list of what I should do that day. And I set an intention – what I want/need/should work on in the next 24 hours. Most days, it makes sense; other days, it takes some patience.

Today, at the end of my morning ceremony, the word “resilience” came to me loud and clear. I wasn’t sure what it meant but I wrote it down and then started my day. I felt that word as I taught my morning class and didn’t freak out when a new to me teacher took my class. I felt that word as a I met a friend for coffee. While we were talking about what she could do for herself, I realized the word I had wasn’t for me – it was hers. I shared that. And when it landed, it LANDED. It was a moment shared between friends, full of Beauty, love, knowledge, and hope.

I shared the moment during my personal therapy session and it hit me – the word belongs to me as well. I’m a survivor, like the song says. While most of the family and friends in my life don’t know my biggest secret (seriously, they don’t. If you think you know, you probably don’t), they see me as picking myself up. They see at times I was assisted by others. Therein lies the magic of being resilient.

It’s not a “go it alone” sort of word. We become stronger when we all become stronger, not by one person at a time. We become nicer/more accepting, when we all become nicer/more accepting. Resilience for me is changing the world by showing the world I’m changed; and helping those in my life do the exact same thing.